In an interview with his guest, 630 KHOW-AM co-host Dan Caplis, Fox News' Bill O'Reilly falsely asserted on his May 31 O'Reilly Factor broadcast that the Daily Camera of Boulder "ignored the story" about the investigation into the death of infant Jason Jay "J.J." Midyette in Boulder County. In fact, as Colorado Media Matters pointed out previously when O'Reilly made a similar claim, the Daily Camera did extensive reporting on the case before O'Reilly began covering it.

On the May 31 broadcast of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly told his guest, 630 KHOW-AM co-host Dan Caplis, that the Daily Camera of Boulder "ignored the story" of the investigation into the March 3, 2006, death of infant Jason Jay "J.J." Midyette in Boulder County. However, as Colorado Media Mattersnoted when O'Reilly made a similar false assertion during the December 11, 2006, broadcast of KHOW's The Caplis and Silverman Show, the Daily Camera had reported extensively on the Midyette case well in advance of O'Reilly's initial coverage of the story in November 2006.

During the May 31 broadcast, O'Reilly and Caplis were discussing the controversy following an April 10 panel discussion at Boulder High School during which panelists, according to O'Reilly, condoned casual sex and the use of illegal drugs.

After Caplis claimed that the Daily Camera "still ha[sn't] done a story that just lays out for the folks what these unqualified sex-and-drug clowns actually told the kids," O'Reilly asked, "But do you really think even if they did, the, the SPs ["secular progressives"] in Boulder would care?" O'Reilly continued, "I mean, look at the Midyette case. The Boulder Camera didn't carry that. Baby dead, 14 months before the parents are indicted, and they're indicted for child abuse, not murder. Camera ignored the story."

O'Reilly's accusation echoed comments he made on Caplis' December 11, 2006, broadcast, when he told Caplis and co-host Craig Silverman that "the biggest indictment of the Daily Camera is that they sit on their butts and do nothing when right up the street a little baby is brutally murdered." O'Reilly further claimed, "And if it wasn't for guys like you, and guys like me, baby Midyette would be in the ground dead and murdered and nothin' would happen."

But, as Colorado Media Matters pointed out at the time, O'Reilly did not begin airing his coverage of the story until a "Factor Outrage of the Week" segment during his November 9, 2006, show. The Daily Camera first reported the story eight months earlier, on March 4, 2006. By the time O'Reilly began his coverage, the Daily Camera had published at least 10 articles on the case, including a July 24 news article and a July 29 editorial. The newspaper has continued to follow the case since.

Additionally, contradicting O'Reilly's December 11 claim that "if it wasn't for guys like you, and guys like me ... nothin' would happen," the Daily Camerareported on December 7, 2006, that a grand jury was convened in early October 2006 to investigate the baby's death -- a month before O'Reilly began covering the case.

From the May 31 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Joining us now from Denver, radio talk show host Dan Caplis, who has been covering the story on KHOW. Is this building in Colorado? Is it, is it, is something going to happen to these three administrators who actually inviting these people back again next year?

CAPLIS: Well, Bill, it is building, in large part because of you. And thank you for that, because here's what we see: Every time somebody hears this tape, they get mad about it. And, and you've done a great job of gettin' it out there. But the problem is this: In Boulder -- and I lived there for 20 years -- most people get their local news from the Boulder Daily Camera, and the Boulder Daily Camera still refuses to fully report the facts. They still haven't done a story that just lays out for the folks what these unqualified sex-and-drug clowns actually told the kids, so --

O'REILLY: But do really think even if they did, the, the SPs [secular progressives] in Boulder would care? I mean, look at the Midyette case. The Boulder Camera didn't carry that. Baby dead, 14 months before the parents are indicted, and they're indicted for child abuse, not murder. Camera ignored the story. But, but the state of Colorado is interesting -- and, and, and you guys at KHOW, you go all over the state -- you gotta struggle there now. Used to be when I lived there, it was a traditional state, somewhat conservative. Now, big, big liberal influence. And, you know, secular progressives, they don't have a problem with telling kids to use illegal drugs or have indiscriminate sex. They don't have a problem with it.

CAPLIS: You're right. And this is classic culture-war stuff, but traditional values, I say, I think, are still there across party lines with most parents, including in Boulder. Most parents don't want their kids being told to do drugs, have indiscriminate sex -- "By the way, a condom won't make it as good." They don't want their kids told that.

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